A British protestor poses as he takes part in a pro-EU demonstration in downtown Rome, Italy, March 25, 2017.
REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
LONDON – The 2.2 million European Union nationals working in Britain play a key role in the UK's retail, hospitality and health sectors, according to a report from the Office for National Statistics.

EU nationals make up 7% of the UK workforce and are much more likely to be over-educated for the jobs that they do than British nationals.

The study also revealed a split between workers from western and eastern Europe, with the latter working longer hours and earning less than their UK counterparts.

The UK's Brexit negotiations with the EU has created uncertainty over the long-term status of EU nationals working in the UK, and difficulties for the industries that depend on them.

Anna Bodey, a migration analyst at the Office for National Statistics, said: "Today’s analysis shows the significant impact international migration has on the UK labour market. It is particularly important to the wholesale and retail, hospitality, and public administration and health sectors, which employ around 1.5 million non-UK nationals."

Around three-quarters of manufacturing firms were struggling to find staff while 58% of services firms said the same thing, according to the study.

“Migrants from Eastern Europe, Bulgaria and Romania are likely to work more hours and earn lower wages than other workers, partly reflecting their numbers in lower-skilled jobs," said Bodey. "Many EU migrants are also more likely to be over-educated for the jobs they are in."

The charts follow below. But first, here is the key for working out the country groupings referred to in them.

This is the half referred to in the headline:

ONS

The south of England and Scotland have a higher than average percentage of non-UK nationals in employment.

ONS

Some industries rely more heavily than others on EU workers. Half a million work in the retail, hotels and restaurants sectors, making up 14% of the sector's workforce. Meanwhile, 12% of the financial sector's workforce are international migrants.

ONS

On average more than half of workers from eastern European countries worked more than 40 hours per week, while only 32% of UK nationals did the same.

ONS

Workers from EU14 countries had the highest median hourly pay, at £12.59, being more likely to be employed in high-skilled jobs. Non-EU nationals earned a median of £10.97 an hour, while EU8 and EU2 workers received £8.33.

ONS

According to the ONS, almost 2 in 5 workers from EU14 countries had highly-skilled roles compared with just 8% of EU8 nationals. More than two-thirds of EU8 workers had low- or lower-middle skilled jobs.

ONS

The ONS study also found that a worker from an EU country is much more likely to be over-educated for the role they perform in the UK economy than a British national, who is just as likely to be under-educated as over-educated.